BY TERRICA STRUDWICK
ROCKHAMPTON — Women have been at the forefront of the battle against Consolidated Meat Group, since CMG's announcement on January 12 that its Rockhampton plant was closing, putting 1350 employees out of work.
The workers, covered by the Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union, are fighting the decision to close the plant. CMG is arguing that it can only afford to re-open the plant if it can drastically cut wages and conditions. The company is proposing a 47% wage cut for the lowest paid workers, many of whom are women.
Nearly two months since the announcement, numerous workers have already lost their cars to debt agencies, and are battling the banks to keep their houses. Families have been divided, as workers are forced to find work outside of Rockhampton. The stress has taken its toll on many marriages.
Fed up with the uncertainty, meatworkers Krystine Tranberg and Cassandra Murgatroid organised a public rally on February 1, demanding that the plant re-open. It was a huge success — more than 400 people attended.
Tranberg told Green Left Weekly that the rally was planned, in part, because the workers needed more input into what was going on. "We were only getting snippets of information through the media", she explained. Many workers have been frustrated at the union's failure to keep them informed of development of the struggle.
Not only has Tranberg lost her job, but her marriage has broken up under the stress. One of her children has gone to live with her husband. It's important, she says, to use her anger in a constructive way. "Solidarity is really important right now", she said. "I think the rally was really good for that."
Despite never having done "anything like this" before, Tranberg and Murgatroid mobilised significant community support behind the rally. For many women, the event was an important part of their struggle, not only for jobs, but for equality. It showed that women were capable of fighting back.
Before the plant closed, women workers suffered discrimination from CMG. Although CMG management never formally admitted it, women were prevented from taking on positions in the slicing department, considered "more suited" to men. Many women complain of being treated as "second-class citizens".
I spoke with a group of women at the rally who were furious with CMG. They told me that they suspected CMG had been planning the closure since last September. Although a new enterprise agreement was supposed to be negotiated in 2001, the company kept making excuses to delay it. Now CMG has applied to overturn it.
One of the meatworkers, Sonya Pitman, spoke of her frustration with the plant's owner, Kerry Packer.
The struggle at CMG will set a precedent. If the company forces wages and conditions down, meatworkers all across Australia will be under pressure to accept less. The decision to organise to fight back has improved the chances of workers winning this struggle. Women such as Cassandra Mergatroid and Krystine Tranberg have shown that it is possible to make a difference.
Women meatworkers will be joining the International Women's Day march on March 9 to show their solidarity with women workers across the country.
From Green Left Weekly, March 6, 2002.
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